NBA 2013-14 Season - Page 102
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AxionSteel
United States7754 Posts
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Vindicare605
United States16118 Posts
On December 07 2013 14:36 Ace wrote: smh now do you believe me when I say D'Antoni is a very good coach? My position on D'Antoni hasn't changed regarding being a championship coach. I simply don't think a team can win a title with a run and gun seven seconds or less style like he ran in Phoenix and (tried to) in New York. But I have to give him credit. He's adjusted a lot of things to make this team work like starting Hill and only using Shawn Williams as a stretch 4 in spurts off the bench etc. But there's something I've also said a lot among fellow Laker fans is this: Kurt Rambis was an incredible off-season hire as defensive coordinator. This team is playing better defense than our team was last year without him and with a less talented roster and no Dwight Howard. How the hell does that even make sense? Well part of that has to do with him, and I think the pairing of the two of them is working out better than I expected. For all of the misgivings I've had with D'Antoni's philosophies he's getting this team to play hard and as a team. Maybe a full training camp is all he needed, maybe it's a result of the pieces Mitch has given him, maybe it's just the lack of pressure from the media to succeed right away, maybe it's a combination of all of the above. I don't know. But for whatever reasons I am loving the results. | ||
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Housemd
United States1407 Posts
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DystopiaX
United States16236 Posts
edit- looking at the box scores for today and holy shit NYK-ORL and POR-UTA final scores are nuts. | ||
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Housemd
United States1407 Posts
On December 07 2013 14:46 DystopiaX wrote: Also for as much shit as he's gotten I like that he's one of the few coaches that seems to be ok with messing around with his rotations to try new things. Too many coaches play the same lineups cause that's what they've started the season with despite it not really working for them. Definitely true. Today, he started Sacre over Hill which puzzled me for a moment. But Sacre has solid defense and this keeps Hill from getting into foul trouble since Hill plays a very aggressive style. Plus, Hill getting offensive rebounds is key for the second unit since they need to take more shots for the Lakers to stay close. | ||
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DystopiaX
United States16236 Posts
"SportVU Revelation: Remember that protecting-the-rim stat from Toronto's section? Only one player has protected the rim better than Hibbert: Brook Lopez. Wait, what???? Brook Lopez?!?!?!?!?!? Opponents shoot only 35.8 percent when he protects the rim. His brother, Robin, comes in at a respectable 43.4 percent. Well done, Mrs. Lopez! Way to teach your kids how to protect the fort!" wtf | ||
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rabidch
United States20289 Posts
On December 07 2013 14:36 Ace wrote: smh now do you believe me when I say D'Antoni is a very good coach? he's better than mike brown ![]() | ||
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rei
United States3594 Posts
On December 07 2013 14:41 Jerubaal wrote: I don't know what you mean by "very good coach". Did he actually adjust anything or did his square peg just become a round one through FA and injury? He give his teams (everybody on all his teams are highly skilled in basketball, like they make 95% of their open shots in practice good) the green light to shoot any open shots, and doesn't care how much they miss as long as it's an open shot. Players loves to play in that system. As long as he gets a decent point guard his system will work pretty well when everybody in the team goes along with it. | ||
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Vindicare605
United States16118 Posts
Well hell that's not saying much. I even admitted that much last year. | ||
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DystopiaX
United States16236 Posts
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Ace
United States16096 Posts
He's very good. His system - like all systems - require the right players. And outside of last year where no coach would have worked, and Melo coming over to screw shit up, he's been able to get marginal players to maximize their skill set. He's one of the better coaches in the league and always has been. lol @ Kurt Rambis. ok. On December 07 2013 14:46 Housemd wrote: Dantoni's system is working so much better this year because the Lakers have fresher legs and we don't have to cater to Howard's complaints about not having a post game. Defensively, I think he gets a lot of flak. Today, the Lakers team played some of the best defense I have ever seen them play in the fourth quarter. He might not be the best at defense, but not all coaches are good at everything. Phoenix was also tops in the league with above average defense a few times. Not saying D'Antoni is solely responsible but the notion he sacrifices defense to get offense is way overblown. | ||
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Vindicare605
United States16118 Posts
On December 07 2013 14:55 Ace wrote: D'Antoni only ran a SSOl offense 2 years in Phoenix. He didn't do it in New York. He's very good. His system - like all systems - require the right players. And outside of last year where no coach would have worked, and Melo coming over to screw shit up, he's been able to get marginal players to maximize their skill set. He's one of the better coaches in the league and always has been. lol @ Kurt Rambis. ok. You're not going to give some credit to this team playing better than expected defense to a newly hired defensive coordinator? Also for what it's worth. My primary beef with D'Antoni when we hired him was how incompatible I felt he was with the team we had at the time. Every free agent signing Mitch did during the off season had D'Antoni in mind and it shows. Not only has he adjusted to the team but Mitch adjusted the team to him. It's just an overall better situation than what we had last year. If Dwight had stayed, I'm not sure I'd be saying the same thing. | ||
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Ace
United States16096 Posts
Well yea, I guess the Dwight thing worked out for both parties. Funny enough Houston fans are now complaining that Dwight won't run PnR with Harden enough because he wants to iso. D'Antoni took a ton of shit for this guy last year. | ||
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Vindicare605
United States16118 Posts
On December 07 2013 15:01 Ace wrote: I don't trust Rambis that much. Mainly because I remember him saying something about running a triangle offense in Minnesota and realized he might be crazy. I know that doesn't say anything about the defense but his mindset might be stuck in the 80s. Well yea, I guess the Dwight thing worked out for both parties. Funny enough Houston fans are now complaining that Dwight won't run PnR with Harden enough because he wants to iso. D'Antoni took a ton of shit for this guy last year. A lot of people have. Stan Van Gundy immediately comes to mind also. | ||
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MassHysteria
United States3678 Posts
And D'Antoni still deserves some shit for last year. Just because he is doing good with this team (which is not totally surprising for people who kept up with the offseason) does not mean anything on his job last year. Adjusting to your team and actually being the coach and making the correct but difficult decisions was still his job. I agree he got more of it than he deserved though. And Kurt Rambis and the emphasis placed on defense (including D'Antoni himself) this season is true. I am almost positive Lakers mgmt pressured D'Antoni to publicly and privately place more emphasis on defense, as that was one of the most criticized things about him last season. The same reason they hired Rambis, who actually has had more of an impact on this team than is immediately seen to nonLakers fans. He might not be a great offensive coach but the reason he was even looked at as a possible head coach (when he was eventually hired by Minnesota) was for the defensive job he had done with the Lakers during those Lamar Odom seasons. This was after Thibs and the job he did with Boston, which was the main team he studied when they were beaten by them in the finals that season. These players being younger, more athletic, and just trying harder has a lot to do with it ofc. And even if you claim PHX had an above average defensive numbers (which was still nothing to fear--Raja Bell and Matrix did hustle though so I would believe it--), it was somewhat of a different time. Being in the top of the league in defense nowadays means more than it did back then (takes more work/emphasis). Not to mention that I have heard a few Phoenix players say that them practicing defense back then was pretty nonexistent. With all this said, D'Antoni is doing a fine job (in-game and out-of-game stuff I have seen). I did think he would do good with these guys though, just did not know how good compared to the rest of the league. The players and their effort is still the main thing driving the team. He is doing good on making them keep it up and he gives off a much calmer demeanor this season. He better, or Coach Kobe might just reassign him these next few days... edit: they struggled without Farmar or Blake in there, but they managed against these Kings. Something to keep an eye on. editt2 :Looking at D'Antoni's system, as a whole, close-up this season has been fun so far. From the general philosophy, to the way he runs practices, to why it is so easy for players to get in the game. I can see why he gets praise. | ||
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Vindicare605
United States16118 Posts
![]() Go Go. | ||
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Jerubaal
United States7684 Posts
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cLutZ
United States19574 Posts
On December 07 2013 15:54 Jerubaal wrote: Your FGA leader, LMA. Attempts? Also, Doc Rivers, also mediocre. | ||
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Jerubaal
United States7684 Posts
Maybe I'm looking at D'Antoni backwards. The knock was that he only wanted to coach a particular way and wouldn't adjust to personnel. The truth is that TEAM had to be coached a very particular way and it was the polar opposite of D'Antoni. | ||
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kidleaderr
365 Posts
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